In conventional rubber reinforcement, rubber reinforcement is carried out by addition of carbon black or silica. Reinforced rubber may be employed in such applications as automobile tires, hoses, conveyor belts, or products of the like.
In the past, polymers such as polyamides or polyurethanes were utilized in tire applications for reinforcement. However, when such polymers are used, hydrogen-bonding units are left in the amorphous form or not microphase-separated from rubber providing unacceptable hysteresis.
Telechelic polyisobuylenes and polybutadienes having oligo-β-alanine end groups have been provided as new thermoplastic elastomers. See Jia, et al., PCT Patent Application No. PCT/US13/37974, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. It was determined that the oligo(β-alanine) domains microphase-separated to provide crystalline β-sheet domains in the thermoplastic elastomers.
The present invention employs a similar supramolecule approach in reinforcing thermoset rubber. The present invention provides a composition for reinforcing thermoset rubber utilizing crystalline domains provided by supramolecule building blocks further defined herein. The present invention provides thermoset rubber that controls energy dissipation in such a way that low rolling resistance, high wet skid resistance, high abrasion resistance and high crack resistance are simultaneously achieved.